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the sentinels on the ramparts are relieved every fifteen minutes, so overpowering is the intensity of the cold.

The literary character of Quebec is, so far as I can judge, very much akin to that of Montreal; perhaps any difference that may be, is against Quebec. It is more of a sea-port town than the other, and many of the mercantile houses are merely branches of those in Montreal, conducted in general by the junior partners, and devoted to the superintendence of their Custom House transactions.

The same circumstances must influence in some measure the character of society; although as the seat of the colonial government, and a garrison town, it is likely to be more gay, in the gay season, than even Montreal; my opportunity however of observing domestic manners, has been extremely limited. The population is somewhat under that of Montreal.

To the aspect of the Protestant religion in

of the bayonet. Surely such a remark is indecent, with respect to a people with whom we are now in amity; and to any one who has ever seen Quebec, it appears superlatively ridiculous, and only exposes us to contempt :-an effort to take the moon at the point of the bayonet would be almost equally rational." Tour between Hartford

and Quebec, p. 277, and Note. In the same volume pp. 282-291,. is an interesting and apparently very accurate account of General Montgomery's unsuccessful attack on Quebec, in the commencement of the American revolutionary war; I regret that its length prevents me from extracting it.

Montreal and Quebec, I have during both visits paid considerable attention, and I am sorry to be under the necessity of giving a very unfavourable report of it. There are in Quebec, as in Montreal, four places of worship, an Episcopalian, a Scotish, a Methodist, and an Independent; in Montreal in place of the Independent, there is a Burgher congregation.

In the Episcopalian churches the doctrine which was preached, so far as I could judge, was decidedly subversive of the distinguishing principles of the gospel declaration, "By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."

In the Scotish churches the mode of worship of course differed, but in doctrine I could detect nothing which did not correspond. In one of them I was present on a sacramental occasion, as it is usually called; and the clergyman's discourse was intended as an exposition of the Assembly's catechism, on the subject of the Lord's supper. The spirit of this address was, "Man is a frail and erring creature, and God neither expects nor requires perfection; if we are only sincere in desiring and endeavouring to do well, it is all that is necessary to qualify us for worthily receiving this ordinance, and being accepted of by God." Another preacher undertook to illustrate the passage, "If any one provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied

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the faith and is worse than an infidel." The precepts of self-denial contained in the sermon on the Mount, he told us, were intended for the twelve disciples alone, and were only necessary in those days when men were so averse to religion, that miracles were necessary to convince them; but that "now when religion is fully established," there was no occasion for such self-denial and mortification. The active scenes of worldly occupation, he assured us, were the true field where religion was to be acquired and displayed, and it mainly consisted in an unremitting attention to our business, whatever it might be, and honest endeavours to acquire wealth; "not indeed for the sordid gratification of our avarice, but to enlarge our power and influence, and particularly our capacity of virtue and usefulness."

In one of the Methodist chapels I heard a pretty animated discourse on death, in which the preacher contrasted that of a good man,' with that of < a bad;' but when he came to tell us in what the one differed from the other, his frequent admonition to walk in the paths of piety,' without telling us in what this consisted, and without ever telling us of that truth which alone can take away the fear of death, only showed that his own ideas on the subject were not those which would stand the scrutiny of comparison with scripture. His discourse was certainly very different from that of the Presbyterian minister; but alas, how many

different ways are there of going wrong, in the statement of religious doctrine! I went to the corresponding chapel in the other city in expectation of hearing sermon, but mistook the hour of service, and found a Sabbath school in operation. There were about forty children present, some of whom were learning the letters, but others could read well, and a few repeated hymns. They were quiet and orderly in their behaviour, and I augured well of the appearance which the school presented. One of the teachers told me that it had only existed for about six weeks.

I hoped to have heard a good discourse in the Burgher chapel at Montreal, for I had learned that the minister had been under the tuition of a celebrated preacher of that connexion in New York, and was reputed correct in doctrine. On going to the chapel, however, I learned that there was to be no service that day, and that the regular minister had left the city in consequence of bad health.

In the Independent chapel at Quebec, there is at present no regularly settled minister; I heard a highlander preach, whose knowledge of the English language was exceedingly imperfect, and his utterance of course feeble. He seemed however to know the simple doctrine of salvation through the blood of Jesus, and I listened to his highland accent with emotions of considerable pleasure. His text was the concluding sentence of Cornelius' address to Peter, and though in point of construc

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tion and delivery, his discourse was weak enough, yet its having the root of the matter' in it, atoned for many imperfections. His congregation was a very slender one.

A year or two ago there was a Bible Society established in Quebec, but its existence was of short duration. The "Lord Bishop" was, it is said, of that class of Episcopalians who contemplate with alarm the circulation of the Bible, without the qualifying ministrations of the book of Common Prayer; and his pastoral authority having in some shape or other sanctioned, or been supposed to sanction, its reprobation, the institution soon expired." To the same ecclesiastical dignitary is attributed the failure of an attempt to establish Lancasterian schools. The measure was in contemplation, and my informant assured me that there was every reason to have expected the co-operation, or at least the permission, of the Romish Bishop; but the Protestant one having refused his patronage, it was followed by a corresponding disapproval from his brother prelate.

It is to be regretted that so little has hitherto been attempted for the instruction of the French Canadians. Excepting the Seminaries' of Montreal and Quebec, I am not aware of the existence of any school, where their boys can acquire even the most ordinary elements of education.

11 I saw in one of the huts on the Jacques Cartier, a Bible with the stamp of the "Quebec Bible Society."